In the first quarter, China imported 95.778 million tons of coal

In the first quarter, China imported 95.778 million tons of coal, an increase of 28.4%, Li Kuiwen, a spokesman of the General Administration of customs and director of the statistics and analysis department, said at a press conference held by the Information Office of the State Council on April 14, 2020. According to customs statistics, the total value of China's import and export of goods in the first quarter was 6.57 trillion yuan, down 6.4% from the same period last year. Among them, the export was 3.33 trillion yuan, down 11.4%; the import was 3.24 trillion yuan, down 0.7%; and the trade surplus was 98.33 billion yuan, down 80.6%. According to the analysis of the General Administration of customs, the development of China's foreign trade in the first quarter has the following six characteristics.

First, import and export picked up in March. In March this year, China's foreign trade import and export reached 2.45 trillion yuan, down 0.8% year on year, 8.7 percentage points lower than that in January February. Among them, export was 1.29 trillion yuan, down 3.5%; import was 1.16 trillion yuan, up 2.4%. Second, ASEAN has surpassed the EU as China's largest trading partner. In the first quarter, China's import and export to ASEAN amounted to 991.34 billion yuan, an increase of 6.1%, accounting for 15.1% of China's total foreign trade value. ASEAN became China's largest trading partner; the import and export to EU amounted to 875.93 billion yuan, a decrease of 10.4%; the import and export to us amounted to 668.01 billion yuan, a decrease of 18.3%; the import and export to Japan amounted to 465.68 billion yuan, a decrease of 8.1%. In addition, China one year, the "one belt, one road" countries' imports and exports 2 trillion and 70 billion yuan, an increase of 3.2%, higher than the overall growth rate of 9.6 percentage points. Third, the import and export of private enterprises decreased slightly and their proportion increased. In the first quarter, the import and export of private enterprises reached 2.78 trillion yuan, down 2%, accounting for 42.4% of China's total foreign trade, up 1.9 percentage points from the same period last year. Among them, export reached 1.71 trillion yuan, down 7.3%, accounting for 51.4% of the total export value; import reached 1.07 trillion yuan, up 7.9%, accounting for 33.1% of the total import value. Foreign invested enterprises import and export 2.6 trillion yuan, accounting for 39.6% of China's total foreign trade.

The import and export of state-owned enterprises reached 1.16 trillion yuan, accounting for 17.7%. Fourth, the proportion of import and export of general trade reached 60%. In the first quarter, China's general trade import and export reached 3.94 trillion yuan, down 5.7%, accounting for 60% of China's total foreign trade. Among them, export was 1.95 trillion yuan, down 11.3%; import was 1.99 trillion yuan, up 0.5%. The import and export of processing trade reached 1.56 trillion yuan, down 12.4%, accounting for 23.8%. Fifth, mechanical and electrical products and labor-intensive products are the main export commodities. In the first quarter, China's export of mechanical and electrical products reached 1.95 trillion yuan, down 11.5%, accounting for 58.5% of the total export value. During the same period, the export of seven categories of labor-intensive products, such as textiles and clothing, reached 596.98 billion yuan, down 15.3%, accounting for 17.9%. Sixth, the import of bulk commodities such as iron ore, crude oil, coal and other key consumer goods such as meat increased rapidly. In the first quarter, China imported 260 million tons of iron ore, an increase of 1.3%; 130 million tons of crude oil, an increase of 5%; 95.778 million tons of coal, an increase of 28.4%; and 24.656 million tons of natural gas, an increase of 1.8%. In addition, 17.792 million tons of soybeans were imported, an increase of 6.2%; 951000 tons of pork were imported, an increase of 1.7 times; 513000 tons of beef were imported, an increase of 64.9%.

Affected by the epidemic situation, 61.91 billion yuan of medical materials and drugs were imported, an increase of 14.8%. Li Kuiwen said that the current international epidemic continues to spread, the downside risk of the world economy is increasing, uncertainty and instability factors are significantly increasing, and China's foreign trade import and export are facing more difficulties. The customs will take Xi Jinping's new socialist ideology with Chinese characteristics as the guidance, thoroughly implement the decision making arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on coordinating the work of epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development, and do a good job in preventing and controlling epidemic situation at the port without delay, continuously optimizing the port business environment, supporting enterprises to explore the international market, and strive to stabilize China's foreign trade basic plate and push forward the higher level. The level of opening to the outside world will make due contributions to the realization of the economic and social development goals of the whole year. In addition, in the first quarter of this year, China's import and export trade with ASEAN was significantly better than the overall foreign trade, with a total import and export value of 991.34 billion yuan, up 6.1% year on year. Exports reached 539.43 billion yuan, an increase of 2.4%; imports 451.91 billion yuan, an increase of 10.9%. In the first quarter, combined with the "brexit" factor of Britain, ASEAN replaced the EU with an advantage of 115.41 billion yuan and became China's largest trading partner. In the first quarter of this year, the total value of China US trade was 668.01 billion yuan, down 18.3% year-on-year; among them, the export to the United States was 476.55 billion yuan, down 23.6%; the import from the United States was 191.46 billion yuan, down 1.3%.